Saturday, March 28, 2009

This is the very first blog posting I've done from a moving Amtrack train. Technology is incredible. I have one of those devices that allows me to access the Internet via cell phone signals. It gets cranky sometimes. But to my amazement it's working fine on this train.

Tomorrow at 10 am (I put 11 am on this before -- sorry) I'll be speaking at the Traditional Chinese Cultural Center, which will be meeting at the Potomac Community Center Social Hall 11315 Falls Road Potomac, MD 20854. It should be interesting. I'm supposed to relate my talk to Chinese culture. That's not a huge stretch. After all, Dogen went to China to bring back the style of Zen I teach. But I'm having to study for this one, which is not something I usually do! Come see me fall flat on my face!

After that I have two days off, the first of which will be devoted to traveling all day. I couldn't get a reasonably priced direct flight from DC to Knoxville, where my sister lives and out of which I will be basing the Deep South Wing of Kalpa-long Cassidy Tour 2009 (thanks to John Graves for the new name of World Domination Tour 09). On April Fool's Day at 7pm I'll be Malaprops Books, 58 Haywood St., Asheville, North Carolina 28801 and then after that I have a four day retreat at the Southern Dharma Retreat Center. I think there still may be spaces available. All the info you need is linked over there to your left<<<<<<<

The talk this morning at Brooklyn Zen Center was one of the funnest ever. What a great group! 50-some people stuffed into a tiny Brooklyn apartment! What a riot!

OK. This typing on the train is proving harder than I thought. Plus the battery in my laptop, which is supposed to last 4 hours, always poops out after about 45 minutes. So I'll leave you with that. See you tomorrow in DC!!!

20 comments:

See you soon in Asheville! I know it will be great to be out of the city after a stint in DC. (And before or after you visit Malaprops, you MUST pay a visit to The Chocolate Fetish, which is nearby...trust me on that one!) Safe travels! :-)

"I think I may not misunderstand." Of course not. Not possible. How very smug of you! I wonder that you bother with us at all. We're just about the same age, M, but I hope I never tell ANYBODY that they "amuse me".

Your recent link (hidden in hyper-text) to Gudo's announcent of DSI, and Brad as it's leader (I think he's a good choice, but, like him, I'm not sure what he's leading) is dated:

July 10th 2007

and so POST-DATES the link you were referred to on this blog, march 22nd (!), to "Dogen Sangha (7) The Truth is just one" , which contains, I believe, the first expressions of concern re Gudo's treatment of certain Dharma-heirs, by themselves (in no less than 82 comments). That blog is dated:

Sept 7th 2006

It seems that documented dissent, and complaint to Gudo began significantly before the anouncemnt of DSI. As an (ex) academic, I'm sure you won't mind this being pointed out.

I'm doing it so that all can be reassured that there is no Brad-hating in all of this. That is my only motive.

Anonymous Faceless said..."It seems that documented dissent, and complaint to Gudo began significantly before the anouncemnt of DSI. As an (ex) academic, I'm sure you won't mind this being pointed out."

The announcement of DSI, as you call it, is a capstone event built upon a long and circuitous history. I rarely confuse the terminus (e.g. announcement) with the embarkation (e.g. the PAPD manifestations of 'contenders'). As a retired academic, I now have enough time to research those things of interest (e.g. History of Persian Empires 1, 2, 3, and 4) which heretofore I was compelled by the constraint of time to briefly gloss over.

It's not about winning. I most certainly do not win anything. It's definitely not about what I do or think.

It's about each participant eventually engaging in some reflective thinking and pattern recognition. That's what one cannot avoid in long-term Zazen. The real monster (hidden dragon) in each basement is only the subconscious mind. Out of resolving some of that is hatched self-actualization.

The reality is that when one heats a solid dairy product, it does become liquid. In the momment between solid and liquid. In the space between chocolate and cheese. In the time it takes the flame of the sterno to hit the bottum of the Caquelon the truth may be found. Or perhaps not...